Civilians
12
Published: 10/16/20
John Brown’s Raid
Discover the story of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry and its role in the fight against slavery. Explore images that relay the historical significance of this pivotal moment.
Published: 3/6/20
The Fashion Trends of 1864
View examples of men's fashions in 1864 as published in an illustration from Harper's Weekly.
Published: 8/25/19
Extra Voices: Clara Barton, The Angel of the Battlefield
Read first person quotes by and about famed Civil War nurse Clara Barton.
Published: 7/26/19
“My Little ‘Rebel’ Heart Was on Fire”
Uncover the incredible life of Belle Boyd, a teenage girl turned Confederate spy. Read an excerpt from her autobiography regarding a traumatic event that led her into this role.
Published: 11/12/18
“A Lady of Excellent Worth”
Cahaba: A Story of Captive Boys in Blue (1888) Castle Morgan prison in Cahaba, Alabama, as it appeared during the Civil War Nearly twenty years after the end of the...
Published: 9/15/17
The Search for Orville Wheelock
The Boys in White Julia Wheelock One hundred fifty-five years ago this month, 28-year-old Michigan resident Julia Wheelock learned that her brother, Orville, a soldier in the 8th Michigan Infantry,...
Published: 6/1/15
Trial of a Confederate Terrorist
John Yates Beall’s friends stirred up a hornet’s nest of protest over the death sentence he had been given by a military commission sitting on Governor’s Island in New York...
Published: 10/9/13
The Wound Dresser
During the Civil War, renowned poet Walt Whitman served as a nurse. His battlefield medical career began at Fredericksburg, where he tended to wounded soldiers—including his brother. Deeply moved by...
Published: 6/3/13
Friends Across the Color Line
David Cornwell, formerly an infantryman in the 8th Illinois Infantry and a veteran of Shiloh, was serving with Battery D, 1st Illinois Artillery, in the summer of 1862. Stationed not...
Published: 5/21/12
Lorena
One of the most popular Civil War songs was Lorena. Reverend Henry D. L. Webster first penned the lyrics in 1856 after his fiancé— Ella Blocksom—ended their engagement. However, in...
Published: 5/14/12
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
The following Walt Whitman poem—“Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night”—reminds us of the tangible, human costs of war. Whitman often found the indiscriminate carnage and wholesale anonymity...
Published: 4/12/12
Voice from the Past: “Another Bloodless Victory”
In belated honor of the fall of Fort Pulaski (April 11, 1862), we bring you Miss Susan Walker’s account of the battle: Friday 11th April Heavy firing all morning yesterday...
Published: 4/6/12
Voice from the Past: “Terrible Tales of the Scenes in Corinth”
In honor of Shiloh’s sesquicentennial, we bring you the following voice from the past. Taken from the April 9, 1862 diary of Kate Cumming, it recounts the battle’s deadly aftermath....
Published: 3/27/12
Song of the Southern Women
Good morning! Today’s Women’s History Month tribute is a poem written by Julia Mildred. Entitled, “Song of the Southern Women,” it is one example of how women struggled to help...
Published: 3/16/12
The Wild Rose of the South
Good afternoon! Today’s Women’s History Month tribute is of Rose O’Neal Greenhow—also known as “Wild Rose”—the famed Confederate spy. Born in Maryland in 1817, little is known of her early...
Published: 2/20/12
Rest in Peace Willie Lincoln
“My poor boy, he was too good for this earth. God has called him home. I know that he is much better off in heaven, but then we loved him...
Published: 11/3/11
Sarah Morgan’s Arrival in Yankee-Occupied New Orleans
In April 1863, 21-year-old Sarah Morgan, along with her mother and sisters, found herself on a ship headed for the city of her birth, New Orleans. The Morgan family had...